Chapter 1 – Rise of the Raven's Claw
A/N. This fanfiction is how I see the effect of how Harry was raised on the Harry Potter story. In the beginning, he will be less trusting of anyone, more frightened of any authority figure, more liable to question and quicker to anger, at least internally, and very uncommunicative.
Marked as equal, means that Voldermort is marking Harry, all things being equal, as having the same potential as Tom Riddle himself had when he was a little over one years old. The pairings are undecided and will not happen till much much later. There will be no slash. Characters will most likely be OOC and this will be an AU as this is not the story that JKR wrote, but my version of course.
I have read a lot of fan fiction, so if you recognize something in this story that you have seen in another please give me a heads up so I can either give recognition or make changes as necessary. Some of the bits in this story are from stories that you may recognize have been written by the following listing of authors:
MysticJaden, Nocez, NothingPretentious, SmallBurnyThing, thefrenchlyon
DISLAIMER I do not own Harry Potter and related merchandise. I'm making no $. I'm just playing in the Harry Potter World sand box.
Words in bold represent those taken straight from the American version of the books. (Not sure how much difference there is from other versions)
Words in italic represent thoughts.
With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.
"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you –?"
"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.
"What?" said Harry.
"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."
The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.
"Fred? George? Are you there?"
"Coming, Mom."
With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.
Harry reached down into his book bag that he had gotten the second time he went to Diagon-Alley and pulled out a book, Hogwarts a History, and sat down by the window, half hidden so that he could read and watch the families saying good-bye to their children. Most of the children were already on the train, so it was easy to see the red-haired family that had helped him through the wall. The mother was saying something to the youngest boy as she wiped his face with her sleeve of her robe and the boy was squirming and trying to get away from her. Harry's looked away from the window, his jaw clenched, his body tensed and his face was covered in red splotches as he thought to himself that he wished he had a mother who would do that for him and that the boy didn't appreciate the fact that he had a mother to do that. He thought he had ruthlessly suppressed his emotions and for the most part he succeeded as his face turned back to its' normal pasty whiteness, but his jaw was still clenched and his body was still tense as he opened the book to the last page he was on and forced himself to focus on the page. As he read his jaw and body slowly relaxed and he lost himself into the stories of Professors, students, the battles and the ups and downs of Hogwarts. After reading three quarters of the History of Hogwarts over the past three weeks, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to go, but he knew that he didn't want to stay with the Dursley's. So, he figured that this was the best solution to his situation until he could figure out what else he could do. Hogwarts didn't seem to be all that safe. "Oh, well! I'll take it day by day just like I did at his relations' home."
He felt the train start to move and was riveted to book, when he heard the door to his compartment open. Looking up he saw the same skinny red-headed boy with a smudge on his nose walk in.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."
Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. Harrywent back to reading, but his body tensed. He couldn't help but remember the reaction the boy had to his mother, well mothering him.
"Hey, Ron."
Harry looked up from his reading as he heard the compartment door open once again and saw the twins who had helped him with his trunk.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."
"Right," mumbled Ron.
"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then"
Neither Ron nor Harry said anything, although Harry did wave as the twins closed the compartment door as they left.
"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.
Harry gave a short jerk of his head that Ron took as affirmation that he was indeed "THE" Harry Potter.
"Oh – well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got – you know …"
He pointed at Harry's forehead.
Harry reluctantly once again pulled backed his hair to reveal his scar. Ron stared.
"So that's where You-Know-Who –?"
"Who?" asked Harry.
"You know, You-Know-Who." Ron stated.
"No, I don't know who … You mean the guy who killed my parents?" Harry's face was mottled with splotches of red and his jaw was clenched. He just couldn't believe the nerve of this guy. First he's annoyed that he has a mother and probably a father and then he's asking me about the death of my parents.
"Yeah, that guy." Ron mumbled as silence fell on the train. Harry tried to focus on the book in his shaking hands, but it was difficult as he could feel the presence of the other boy in the compartment.
"Do you remember anything?" Ron asked after a short pause.
"No!" Harry curtly responded and went back to his book.
…
After a while, Harry was still having trouble fully focusing on the book. So, he decided he was going to see if he could find someplace else to sit where he could have some peace and quiet and read. He got up with book in hand and as he was leaving the compartment he said, "I'm going to the restroom, I'll be back."
As Harry walked down the hallway of the train with his head down, making sure that his hair covered his scar, he passed some compartments that seemed empty, although most of them had a trunk or two either under the seats or in the overhead bins. So, he wasn't sure if Ron had lied to him or not about the train being full. Some of the students he passed towered over him and he instinctively hunched his shoulders and lowered his head even more as he shuffled as quietly as possible passed them. He passed a chubby guy with brown hair standing behind a girl with bushy hair that reach just passed her shoulders, who was asking, in a bossy tone, some people in a compartment if they had seen a toad. He also passed two bigger guys and the guy with long blond hair, who he had run into at Diagon Alley, asking what looked like some older years if they had heard if Harry Potter was on the train. He said his name was "Malfoy". "Draco Malfoy."
Harry face was turning redder and redder as he walked down the hall. Mumbling under his breath, "I know Hagrid said I'm famous, but does everyone know my name? Am I going to have any peace and quiet at this school?" He slid into an empty compartment to let a lady with a food cart walk by. Even though his stomach growled as the cart went by he felt like his stomach was twisted in knots to feel like eating, so he didn't look twice at the cart. Sitting down and hiding behind the panel by the open door he opened his book and started to read again. Slowly his hands stopped shaking, his heart slowed down, his stomach untwisted, and he regained a somewhat normal tone to skin.
…
As Harry felt the train slow down, he looked up and noticed another girl in the same compartment that he was in. She had long black hair that seemed like it would go all the way down her back almost touching her waste. She looked what he thought an oriental would look like, but he wasn't sure as he hadn't really talked to any oriental girls before. When he noticed that she looked up from her book, he nodded to her and got up and walked back to the compartment where his trunk was. Once he got there he looked in and didn't see Ron. He sighed with relief and quickly put his book away in his book bag, pulled out his robes from the book bag, closed the door to the compartment and closed the blinds on the door window. He was hoping that no one else would come in. After sitting back down he went through his trunk and book bag double checking to make sure that nothing was missing. With a sigh of relief that nothing was gone, he made a mental note to himself that he should look up some security spells to make sure that no one else could get into his trunk and his book bag and take his stuff. Since, he never really owned anything of his own before, he was very protective of his stuff and didn't want any of it stolen.
He heard a voice echoing through the train announcing that they would be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes and to leave their luggage as it would be brought to the school separately. After putting on his robes, he put his book bag in his trunk and sat back down by it and waited for the train to come to a full stop so that he could join the line getting off.
…
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage. I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting …. So where shall I put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Ravenclaw please.
"Ravenclaw?" said the small voice. "Are you sure?"
Yes, I want a quiet place to learn and not be bothered.
"Well, if you're sure …"
Yes!
"Then better be RAVENCLAW!"
Harry heard the hat shout the last word. He got off the stool and taking the hat off, shakily putting it back on the stool. As he turned around the entire hall started to clap and shout. Ravenclaw – the loudest – as he walked towards the table with students wearing blue and bronze, on legs that felt like rubber.
He barely clambered over the bench and sat down. To his left he saw the oriental looking girl that was sitting in the same compartment as he was on the train. He noticed that she seemed to be just a little bit shorter than he was and on his right a blond haired blue eyed boy around his own age who was taller than him by at least half a head. Looking on the table he saw plates, tableware and a goblet that seemed to be made of gold or very shiny brass, he wasn't sure. After a minute the students quieted down and the next person in line was sorted, but Harry wasn't paying attention, instead he was looking around the hall. He saw giant windows with modern looking glass behind the Professor's table up on its dais, floating candles, ghosts slowly rising and falling even as they stood in one place. Green and silver, blue and bronze, yellow and black, red and gold banners waving as if there was a breeze in the hall at the end of the four long tables filled with students wearing black robes with the same color accents on their robes and ties as the banners. One of the ghosts by the table with the green and silver banner had what looked like a pale red color that had dripped down his body with chains wrapped around his body. The ghost floating in the middle of the same table as Harry's with only half of her upper body showing looked very sad and lonely. The ghost who was floating right besides the table with the yellow and black banner in front of it was one of the ghosts who Harry had seen when he was waiting outside for Professor McGonagall to show the first years into the hall. On the other side of that table floating back and forth from one side of the table to the other was a ghost who kept tilting his head off of his shoulders except there seem to be a small piece of skin holding the head to his neck. At the end of the Professor's Table was Hagrid, who smiled and waved at him, when he looked up from talking to another Professor whom he didn't recognize. In the center of the table, sitting a little higher than the rest was an old man with glasses and a long white beard wearing pastel blue robes with shooting stars and half moons. To old man's right was an empty seat – Harry figured that was Professor McGonagall's seat. To the old man's left was a man with long black hair just barely touching his shoulders talking to Professor Quirrell. As he looked the man with the long black hair looked up and Harry thought he was looking straight at him. He felt a sharp pain right where his scar was located. So he hunched down into himself, closed his eyes and turned back to the table.
Once the pain had settled down and Harry opened his eyes up, but didn't look up again from his plate, he heard "Zabini, Blaise" and then moments later SLYTHERIN from the hat.
"Welcome!" he heard, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
It was such a strange thing to be heard that he jerked his head up, despite his fear of feeling the pain again, and noticed the old man just sitting down. After looking back down, he noticed a veritable feast, platters of mashed potatoes, meet-loaf, entire chickens, and other mouth watering food, on the table in front of him. His stomach growling he looked around at the students near him and noticed them reaching out to the food and putting it on their plates as they talked to the other students around them. So he quietly reached out and grabbed a little food himself. Looking at the plate of the boy sitting next to him out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that the boy had grabbed three times as much as he did, the girl on the other side of him had put on her plate twice as much as he did. Frowning to himself, he grabbed a little more and put it on his plate and proceeded to slowly eat.
Just as he finished what he could eat of the food on his plate, what was left of the feast on the table and his plate disappeared and desserts appeared. Looking around again with his bangs hanging in front of his eyes, he saw the boy greedily reaching out with both hands towards the desserts and the girl just putting on her plate a small piece of some kind of pie. He didn't recognize any of the desserts so he cautiously put a small piece of the same pie that the girl had put on her plate. After tasting the pie, he grimaced and quietly said to himself, "Yuck!" and put his fork down. Waiting for the desserts to disappear he picked up his goblet of water that he had poured for himself and drank, hoping to remove the taste of the awful pie.
After a while longer, the desserts disappeared and slowly everyone quieted down. The only thing that could be heard as the old man stood up was the clinking of ghost's chains and the rustling of cloths as everyone turned to look towards the back of the hall and the old man.
"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.
First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."
The old man looked in the direction of the Gryffindor table. Harry thought he was looking at the Weasley twins that had helped him onto the train.
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.
Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.
And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
After a very short pause, the old man continued, "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!"
At this point Harry turned back to his empty plate that looked like it had just come out of the dish washer and tuned out whatever was going around him.
Is there really something in this school that could kill someone? What am I doing here? I wonder if I could get tutors? I think I could afford it, but I'm not sure. I can't access my family gold until I turn 14, at least that's what the Goblin told me, even if I could read what books I found in the vault, I don't think I could learn everything I need to without someone to train me, and where would I look for someone? I don't have enough information, so I guess I'll need to stay here and stay as far away from the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side as possible. Hopefully I'll just be able to go to classes, do my homework, and no one will bother me. At least this is better than the Dursley's . I think.
As Harry once again looked up he heard, "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
The students around him stood up and started heading towards two giant thick wooden doors with bands of iron wrapped horizontally around each door. Each door also had great big thick rings of iron that could be used to pull the door shut. That was all he had time to see, before he heard, "First year Ravenclaws! First year Ravenclaws, come over to me!" Harry looked towards the voice and saw a guy that towered over him, not like an adult, but he couldn't help but feel short as he walked towards the guy.
"Ok, this way!" The guy started to walk towards the doors, and the rest of the first years followed like ducklings in a pond. Some of them talking with each other even as they walked.
As Harry followed, he looked around and noticed some giant paintings on the walls. Some of the paintings had people talking to others in the painting; some of them doffed their caps as they walked around. He noticed a person in a long pink dress carrying a parasol walking from painting to painting following them as they walked towards where he assumed he would be sleeping. Harry noticed a girl walking next to him who was a lot taller than he was, but didn't seem to tower over him like the boy did. He felt much better to walk besides her, especially since there was no one behind him.
"Hello Harry, my name is Penny Clearwater. I am a fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect. If you have any questions, either I, Robert Hilliard the other fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect, or our Head of House, who you'll get to meet tomorrow morning, could answer them."
Harry ducked his head down and looked at the big grey stones worn smooth by millions of students over the years as they passed between his taped up sneakers and mumbled back "OK".
After climbing stone stairs and more stairs they finally stopped in front of a door with a bronze bird knocker that Harry guessed might be an eagle he wasn't sure from the distance he was standing. The birds head turned and its' beak opened.
"What is the more you take, the more you leave behind?" was heard coming from the area of the door where the eagle was.
"Footsteps!" The fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect boy answered.
"Correct!" and the door swung open.
"As you can see" Penny started to speak. She had walked to the front of the group when they got to the door. "You will need to answer a riddle to get into the Ravenclaw Tower. If you do not know the answer to the riddle, you will need to wait till someone comes along that does, or you can go to the office of our Head of House Professor Filius Flitwick. It's just down that hall, next to the Charm's classroom. We'll show you tomorrow when we take you around to your classes. So you don't get lost and are late to your classes."
Robert then spoke. "OK everyone come on in to the common room, and we'll get you settled in."
Harry looked around as he walked into the circular room with blue and bronze silk banners hanging between the windows whose headers are made of arched stone and small stone ledgers for the sill. Not realizing it, but his mouth was hanging open as he moved his head back and forth trying to take everything in. Looking up he recognized the galaxy painted on a domed ceiling. The galaxy from a different angle was also shown on the midnight-blue wall to wall thick carpet that looked like it would be wonderful to walk on with bare feet. Light blue couches, both three and two-seaters, with tables in front of them, two, and four seated tables were spread around the room. Directly in front of him was a white marble statue of a woman sitting in a chair next to a wooden door. Every uncovered wall space had bookcases with hundreds if not thousands of books in them.
"Once you get through the door the boys will take the stairs on the left which leads to the boys' dormitories and the other staircase leads to the girls'. Boys cannot go up the staircase that leads to the girls' dormitories without an alarm sounding." Robert was speaking again. "Just a warning, the alarm is very loud and will wake everyone up in the tower, so I wouldn't try it, unless you want a whole bunch of pissed off people coming after you. As you go up the stairs to your dormitories you will see your names on the doors identifying which dorm room is yours."
Penny started speaking, "OK, tomorrow will be the only day we will knock on your doors to wake you up. After that it will be your responsibility, so make sure you have a way to wake up early enough to get to breakfast. Since breakfast is from 7:30 AM till 9:00 AM, we will knock on your door around 6 AM and meet you here to go to breakfast were you'll receive your schedule from Professor Flitwick. We will be leaving here promptly at 7 AM, so don't be late or you will need to find your own way down to breakfast. Any questions?" Penny looked around and seeing that no one had their hand up and there wasn't a peep from any of the first years, spoke once more. "Good, ok, go ahead and find your dorms. We'll see you tomorrow morning."
Harry turned around and walked through the door and turned to the left. As he climbed up the narrow stone stairwell, there really wasn't room for more than two people at a time; he started passing doors on the left and the right with names on them. Each door had a pair of candles surrounding the doors, one on the left and one on the right. The rough stone walls were smoothed out from the height of his shoulders to higher than he could reach. In between a set of doors were candles that lit up the stairwell, so that he could easily see the stairs, nevertheless there was shadows playing on the walls from the boys walking up the stairwell. Finally he came to a door on the left with his name and Anthony Goldstein on a small plaque to the right of the door. The door was slightly ajar and when Harry walked in he noticed two four poster beds with dark blue blankets, light blue sheets, light blue, midnight-blue curtains. All of them edged with bronze. The bed to the left already had a trunk at the end and one to the right was empty, so he assumed that that would be his bed. His trunk was sitting in the middle of the room so Harry dragged it to the end of his bed. In front of his bed was an armoire and to the left of the bed was a small desk and chair with three bookshelves above it. The desk had three drawers on the right side and a long shallow drawer in the middle. A narrow tall window was between his desk and his roommates. Opening his trunk he pulled out the toiletries and PJs that he bought from Diagon Alley the second time he went there and got ready for bed. Harry then climbed into his bed, turned to the desk and put his wand on top of it within easy reach and pulled the curtains closed. Exhausted, he turned to face the wall and closed his emerald green eyes and quickly fell asleep not remembering any dreams he might have had over the night.
A/N – This is my first fanfic, so what do you think? Should I continue?